Textual Analysis: The House On Mango Street

The secret complexity of a leaf reflects my understanding of reading this year. When observed from the outside, it is nothing more than something that is green and bendy. However, the interior of a leaf conducts many incredible processes despite its size. Similarly, a sample of text may seem very simple until you analyze it deeper. Throughout the school year, I was exposed to several different texts with different themes, and each of these texts had very different meanings. Yet, after reading each text, my ability analyze, more specifically, my ability to find symbolically important quotes increased, and this is shown through the reflections I have made this year. Several specific examples from past texts reflect my growth as a reader. For example, in The House on Mango Street, …show more content…
When I first observed this quote, I thought that the red balloon was just another method to embody Esperanza’s childish nature. I also thought that the balloon was a literal one, and I thought the anchor represented a tree or any other object a balloon can get stuck in. However, after rereading the quote later on, it became very clear to me that the balloon symbolized Esperanza because the bright red color suggests naivety and childish energy. The fact that this balloon is caught on an anchor symbolizes the fact that Esperanza feels trapped in her current situation. Another example comes from Everything I Never Told You during a scene where James and Marilyn argue for being different. At one point, Marilyn thinks, ”Before that she hadn’t realized how fragile happiness was, how if you were careless, you could knock it over and shatter it” (Ng 73). When I first read this section, I completely disregarded the importance of this quote. I believed that this was just another lesson the author tried to shove into the story last minute. However, after rereading this quote within the context of